Perse pupils make a splash to qualify for national diving championships

29 May 2018

Frankie Webb and Dominic Jaunzens (both Year 9) will take the plunge at the Swim England Diving National Age Group Championships in Sheffield next month following their success at the East Region Championships.

Representing Cambridge Dive Team, the pair became regional champions in the respective girls’ and boys’ platform events in the 14 and 15 year old category at the competition in Southend.

Frankie also topped the podium in the girls’ 3m springboard and claimed bronze in the 1m springboard, while Dominic added to his medal tally with bronze in both the boys’ 3m and 1m springboard.

Frankie, who has been diving for six years, was thrilled with her performance, especially after suffering an injury during the 3m competition.

She said: “With the platform, I was relaxed and it all went well. I did my highest-ever scoring dive and finished first. I was a bit off with my dives in the 1m, but I managed to bring it back to come third.

“On the 3m, my first four dives were really strong, but then I fell on the stairs right before my next dive and broke my toe! The last three dives weren’t so good, but I still managed to win.”

As for the national championships, Frankie is hopeful of performing well in all three disciplines.

She said: “There are some really good platform divers taking part. I need to get good scores for all my dives even if they’re easier (each dive has a difficulty tariff which plays a part in the judges’ scoring) just to get a medal. On the other boards I’m feeling more confident because I’m improving a lot and learning new dives.”

Listen to Frankie explain how she got into diving and why she likes the sport so much below.

Dominic, who followed his elder brother Seb into diving seven years ago, hopes to add to his national medal collection, having previously clinched 1m bronze.

He said: “I haven’t really been competing much this year, so I haven’t seen my opposition in the other regions, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can get a medal.

“Sheffield has a really nice pool and we’ll have good support from the club, which I’m really happy about because it’s good for morale.”

Dominic, who looks up to former Cambridge Dive Team member and Olympic bronze medallist Daniel Goodfellow, added it is the fear factor that he most enjoys about the sport.

He said: “I find it fun doing risky dives that could go wrong or go well and it’s all about the anticipation of how it’s going to go. If the coach thinks you can do it, then it makes you think you can do it. That gives you confidence and you need to have a lot of trust in your coach.”